In the eighth century BCE, people called the Macedonians settled north-east of the Greeks. Over the next few centuries, they adopted the Greek language and even took part in the Olympics, although they retained a separate political identity. They formed their own kingdom, and under King Amyntas III early in the 4th century BCE, this was expanded to include various upland areas north of them. Meanwhile the Spartans were the leading power in Greece after the Peloponnesian War. However after the King's Peace of 386 BCE, Sparta began to fade away, as Thebes and Athens became the strongest city-states. Repeated internal conflicts, especially between Athens and Thebes, further King's Peaces imposed by the Persians, and the failure of the Greeks to remain united, allowed Philip II, the third son of Amyntas III, to achieve a string of victories from 360 BCE onwards, which the Greeks realised too late.

• Born around 20 July 356 BCE, Alexander was the son of Philip II (of Macedon) and Olympias, the princess of Epirus. He was the heir to the throne.
• During his youth (13-16) he was taught by Aristotle, and grew to love Homer and Greek mythology.
• Alexander was part of the Macedonian army that invaded Greece in late 339 BCE. At the Battle of Chaeronea against Athens, Thebes, and their Greek allies, Alexander commanded a wing of the victorious army.
• Philip then began preparations for an invasion of the Persian empire.
• Throughout this time, Philip had been marrying other women for political reasons. But in 338 BCE, he divorced his wife, Olympias, to marry a younger Macedonian princess, Cleopatra (not that one). Olympia fled with Alexander back to Epirus.
• In 336 BCE, at his daughter's wedding, Philip was assassinated in suspicious circumstances. Alexander was unopposed in his succession to the Macedonian throne.
• The League of Corinth (comprising Greek cities) officially confirmed Alexander as the commander of the Greek and Macedonian forces against Persia.
• The following year, 335 BCE, Alexander led his forces into Thrace and Illyria as they were a threat to Macedonia.
• Whilst Alexander was away, Thebes decided to revolt against Macedonian rule. Alexander returned in a fortnight, and razed the city (except temples and the house of the famous poet, Pindar) after it refused to surrender.
• With an infantry of 30,000 and a cavalry of 5,000, he marched into Asia Minor in early 334 BCE. After passing Ilium (Troy), he confronted a small Persian army. This was routed, and the Greek cities on the coast were liberated with new democracies put in place. Miletus and Halicarnassus refused to succumb, and were taken by storm.
• For the rest of the year he defeated tribesman in the hills of Asia Minor.
• Later next year, 333 BCE, he captured Gordium, and supposedly cut the Gordian knot - which legend said would be unravelled by the man who would conquer Asia.
• In autumn 333 BCE, King Darius III arrived with a huge army. Both sides met in eastern Asia Minor. In the Battle of Issus, the Persians were defeated again, along with the capture of Darius' family (who were treated with care and respect), causing Darius to flee.
• Alexander then turned south and took Syria from the Persians later the same year, including Damascus. Tyre (an island city) held out to a siege for seven months, but was eventually taken bloodily in July 332 BCE. Gaza capitulated later the same year.
• In November 332 BCE, Alexander and his army entered Egypt, where he was proclaimed Pharaoh. He founded Alexandria on the Nile delta. Later he went to the oracle at Amon, and was deified by the Egyptian priests, as the son of Amon (the equivalent of Zeus).
• He left Egypt and returned to Tyre in early 331 BCE. Then he headed east, crossing the Euphrates and the Tigris, instead of going directly to Babylon. Darius and another Persian army came north to meet him. On 1 October 331 BCE, on the plains of Gaugamela, the Persians were defeated again.
• The Battle of Gaugamela led to Darius fleeing to Ecbatana in Media, and allowed the capture of Babylon, the main commercial centre of the Persian empire. Susa, the capital of the Persian empire was then gained. After that, and the subsequent taking of Persepolis, Alexander was in control of most of Persia.
• Alexander stayed in Persepolis for a few months due to an uprising in Greece. He placated them by burning down the palace of Xerxes - revenge for the Persian invasions of Greece. After the uprising was put down, the Greek contingent of his army was released, but Alexander wanted to continue with his own troops.
• In the middle of 330 BCE, Alexander set off to conquer the remaining eastern parts of the Persian empire and to pursue Darius.
• Alexander wanted to emulate parts of the Persian tradition in his empire, and this led to antagonism between him and other Macedonian nobles with him. Parmenio, Philip's most trusted general, was left behind in Media where he was later assassinated under Alexander's secret command. Parmenio's son, Philotas was also removed from his position as commander of the cavalry and executed.
• After he conquered Media, he learnt that Darius had been stabbed by one of his satraps (Persian officers). Alexander then took Parthia and Bactria during the winter of 330 BCE.
• Bessus, one of the satraps who was trying to incite a revolt against the Macedonians, was eventually captured and executed.
• Heading to the northern limits of the empire, where he defeated the nomads and drove them back (and founded Alexandria Eschate), Alexander was forced to turn back due to another uprising in Sogdiana, the province he had just taken. This was put down by autumn 328 BCE. To stabilise this, Alexander married the daughter of the ruler of Sogdiana, Roxana.
• Heading east across the Hindu Kush in 327 BCE and the Indus in 326 BCE, he fought the local ruler, Porus (later to become his ally), in the Battle of Hydaspes. There he founded Alexandria Nicaea, and Bucephala - since his horse, Bucephalos died there.
• Although Alexander wanted to go further, the army rebelled, and he had to acquiesce to them and return home. A fleet was built, and they sailed down the Hydaspes, and then the Indus, accompanied by fighting along the way.
• Deciding to split the army in two, he let Nearchus, a Greek naval officer, command over a hundred ships back to the Persian Gulf. Alexander led the remnant of the army overland, suffering huge losses and hardship on the way.
• Finally he reached Susa in early 324 BCE, and later his fleet rejoined, also having suffered great losses due to food shortages.
• For the next year, he consolidated the empire, removing and executing corrupt governors, mapping out his new territory in anticipation of future conquests, and trying to integrate the Persians and Macedonians into a joint rule of the empire. As part of this, he married the elder daughter of Darius, Barsine.
• Alexander's closest friend (appointed Grand Vizier), Hephaestion, died in autumn 324 BCE, for which there was intense mourning on Alexander's part. After this he led a brief campaign into the hills to subdue unrest there.
• In June 323 BCE, in Babylon, he was taken ill and after ten days, died on 13 June 323 BCE. His body was laid to rest in a golden coffin in Alexandria, Egypt.
• His conquests and founding of cities, allowed Greek culture to spread throughout the ancient world, as well as foreign civilisations coming into contact with the Greek and later Roman cultures.

Alexander the Great

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